How to Prosecute Vladimir Putin for the Crime of Aggression

Momentum is building towards creating a Special Tribunal

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, 2022 there have been numerous examples of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russian soldiers. Many of these crimes are being investigated and prosecuted by local Ukrainian courts and the International Criminal Court.

But the crime of launching this illegal war in the first place is not, as of yet, under any court’s jurisdiction. Oona Hathaway is seeking to change that. She is a professor at Yale Law School who has been advocating for the creation of a UN-backed special tribunal to prosecute the crime of aggression committed by Russian leaders in Ukraine. In recent weeks and month, this proposal is gaining some traction.

We kick off discussing and defining what we mean by the “crime of aggression” before the discussing the politics of creating a special internationally backed mechanism to prosecute specific Russian leaders, including Vladimir Putin, for the crime of aggression.

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